[Perspectives] A course in reversal

March 31, 2016

The Lancet 387, 10025 (2016)

Author: Dave A Chokshi

A landmark clinical trial published in this journal in 2006 expanded the evidence base for breast cancer screening with mammography. Subsequently, the US Preventive Services Task Force—a major advisory body for screening guidelines—reconsidered its recommendation for routine mammography among women aged 40–49 years. Vinayak Prasad and Adam Cifu point to this turnabout as an example of “medical reversal”: when a current clinical practice is found to be ineffective or inferior to a previous standard of care.